The Conversation

To fight US racism, research prescribes a nationwide healing process

Written by Benjamin Appel, Associate Professor of International Relations, Michigan State University

The National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama, documents the lynchings of more than 4,400 people between 1877 and 1950.AP Photo/Beth J. Harpaz

As the U.S. prepares to celebrate another year of its independence, the country is paying renewed attention to the founders, and how their legacy of slavery is linked to systemic racism.

C...

When Supreme Court justices defy expectations

Written by Alison Dundes Renteln, Professor of Political Science, Anthropology, Public Policy and Law, University of Southern California – Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

Justice Neil Gorsuch, a Trump appointee, surprised many court watchers by authoring the decision to expand the Civil Rights Act.Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

The U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled in the important and much-anticipated case, Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia, that the LGBTQ community is protected from employment discrimination.

The...

Can people spread the coronavirus if they don't have symptoms? 5 questions answered about asymptomatic COVID-19

Written by Monica Gandhi, Professor of Medicine, Division of HIV, Infectious Diseases and Global Medicine, University of California, San Francisco

Screening for symptoms can catch some cases of COVID-19, but about people who are infected but not showing any symptoms?AP Photo/John Raoux

Screening for symptoms of COVID-19 and self-quarantine are good at preventing sick people from spreading the coronavirus. But more and more evidence is suggesting that people without symptoms are spreading the...

COVID-19 is laying waste to many US recycling programs

Written by Brian J. Love, Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Michigan

A discarded medical glove in Jersey City, N.J., April 27, 2020.Arturo Holmes/Getty Images

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the U.S. recycling industry. Waste sources, quantities and destinations are all in flux, and shutdowns have devastated an industry that was already struggling.

Many items designated as reusable, communal or secondhand have...

Islamic State militants incite attacks, gloat at US protests and pandemic deaths

Written by Brian Glyn Williams, Professor of Islamic History, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth

An Iraqi militia member inspects the site of an Islamic State attack on Iraqi troops on May 3.Ahmad Al-Rubaye/AFP via Getty Images

An Islamic State follower posted the hashtag “#AmericaBurning” in a discussion on the Telegram chat system in early June, and another posted a message that read “You are waking up this morning to news...

America's Black female mayors face dual crises of COVID-19 and protests – but these women are used to uphill battles

Written by Sharon Austin, Professor of Political Science, University of Florida

San Francisco mayor London Breed declaring a shelter-in-place order early in the coronavirus pandemic, March 17, 2020.Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Mayors are elected to govern their cities, serve and protect citizens, maintain law and order and bring about economic prosperity. Those are tall orders today, as American cities are wracked by...

Islamic State calls for followers to spread coronavirus, exploit pandemic and protests

Written by Brian Glyn Williams, Professor of Islamic History, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth

An Iraqi militia member inspects the site of an Islamic State attack on Iraqi troops on May 3.Ahmad Al-Rubaye/AFP via Getty Images

An Islamic State group online publication in India has called for its supporters to spread the coronavirus, saying “every brother and sister, even children, can contribute to Allah’s cause by becoming the...

The psychological trauma of nurses started long before coronavirus

Written by Karen J. Foli, Associate Professor, School of Nursing, Purdue University

Demands on nurses for such things as electronic record keeping take time away from patients. They can also lead to resource deprivation trauma. Helen King/The Image Bank/Getty Images

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, nurses have been given unprecedented media attention for their daily, selfless sacrifices. Make no mistake: COVID-19 patients recover...

Crop pathogens are more adaptable than previously thought

Written by Antonis Rokas, Cornelius Vanderbilt Chair in Biological Sciences, Professor of Biological Sciences and Biomedical Informatics, and Director of the Vanderbilt Evolutionary Studies Initiative, Vanderbilt University

Bananas in Java, Indonesia, infected by the fungal pathogen _Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. cubense_, which causes Fusarium Wilt.Clare Thatcher, CC BY-ND

The Research Brief is a short take about interesting academic work.

The big idea

Many of the pathogens threatening the world’s major crops and food security are either fungi or fungus-like organisms...

Does coronavirus aid to news outlets undermine journalistic credibility?

Written by Patrick Lee Plaisance, Don W. Davis Professor of Ethics, Pennsylvania State University

More than two dozen newsrooms have shut down and stopped the presses during the pandemic. Tom Werner/Getty

The news business, like every other, is struggling amid the coronavirus pandemic. The economic crisis has forced more than two dozen small-town newsrooms to shut down and has accelerated media job losses – including hundreds of layoffs...